Matera
“once a year go some place you’ve never been before”
– D
Our some place new is over 9,000 yrs old.
We’ve wanted to visit for some time. A change in travel plans made it possible.
It was six summers ago that we stayed at Sextantia Stefano near L’Aquila. We had really enjoyed our time at the unique and ancient ‘diffuso’ hotel and they told us about their other one. We made a made a mental note to travel to Matera one day.
So we took a train from Bari to Matera, in the region of Basilicata. It’s a place that is perhaps over-shadowed by it’s neighbours, Campania, Calabria and Puglia. But there’s so much to experience, just an hour inland from the coast.
Throwing the trip together at the last minute, we had no fixed plans. We were happy to wander, seek out local flavours and try some local wines
Matera is a UNESCO World Heritage Site and it was the European Capital of Culture in 2019. The original settlement lies in two canyons carved by the Gravina River. The Sassi di Matera is a complex of cave dwellings, apparently one of the oldest continuously inhabited cities in the world and the oldest city in Europe. We walked a lot, many kilometres up and down ancient cobble stones.
On our first night we wandered away as fast as possible from the main, crowded street of cafes displaying picture menus in multiple languages. We walked a few blocks to a residential spot and found a pizzeria full of local people. When the waiter apologised “I only have a menu in Italian” we knew we were in the right place for us. It was a simple meal, delicious frittelle veduta, (a bit like tempura), thin, freshly cooked pizzas, washed down with a demi litro of white wine from Basilicata.
Breakfast was a feast every morning. A trolley was wheeled into our room each morning, with a breakfast tray to enjoy in bed. You could get used to that!
The tray featured Pecorino cheese, hard sheep’s milk cheese from Filano, aged for at least six months in traditional tufa stone caves. It was delicious with the fruits and honey provided. This was served with Pane di Matera and some Focaccia. As always, an Italian breakfast included Cornetto (croissant) and local pasticcini.
Lunch at La Lopa had been recommended. Aperitivo was accompanied with Matera bread, local olive oil and crispy pepperoni ‘cruschi’, a speciality of the area. We continued with orrichetti pasta with a beef ragu and a traditional parmigiana.
For dolce we found space for Artiginale gelato and a unique, croccante version of tiramisu. Paulo, our waiter brought us birthday celebration tots of Frangelico.
We digested this ‘perfect pranzo’ in their unique cinema space, a cave at the bottom of the restaurant. There we watched a montage of film clips and trailers of films shoot on location in Matera, like The Passion of the Christ (2004) and 007 No Time to Die (2020).
And of course Matera looks like a film set. It’s truly unique.
Our last supper was more Pane di Matera and Pecorino cheese, with a chilled bottle of Matera Greco wine, made in the region.
We left with many memories from this ancient space; the surprise “Tanti Aguri” singing at Sextantio Le Grotte Della Civita, the magic of meandering among Sassi di Matera and the wonder of waking early to catch sunrise over this World Heritage Site, with no-one else there.
We went some place that we’ve never been to before. And it was unlike anywhere that we’ve ever visited.
Where have you been to where you’ve felt that?
©Maggie M / Mother City Time
Sunrise view of Sassi di Matera